the unpolitically incorrect spot

part 1: the intelligence of dogs: rationality and reasoning

 abuse

Sorry, I got a little long winded here...

New research is coming out, some in its infancy, some final, which indicates that animals other than humans demonstrate complex forms of intelligence. The research is indicating that certain animals may even have the ability to reason, make decisions and solve problems. Until recently, the majority of cognitive research has been performed on primates, birds and cetaceans (whales, dolphins). Recently, this research has begun to focus on dogs. Previous research has already proven that dog's are capable of communication, however, new research indicates that they are even more intelligent than previously thought, possibly as intelligent as primates.

Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology at Yale University said, "For psychologists, dogs may be the new chimpanzees."

Noted researchers have published numerous conclusions based on experiments that show dogs may exhibit the ability to reason, rationalize in order to make decisions and solve problems. These researchers include Frans de waal, Juliane Kaminski, Brett Hayward, Vilmos Csanyi, Zsofia Viranyi, Friederike Range, Joseph Call, Julia Fischer, and Paul Bloom. Their combined research is developing strong evidence that dogs exhibit metacognition; memory and experience; and inference and reflection, which are requirements for reasoning, rational decision making and problem solving.

This research, primarily conducted over the last thirty years, has gained a lot of momentum in the past few years following numerous experiments performed on two border collies by the names of Guinness and Rico.

Research with Guinness showed that other dogs could successfully decide on the first attempt whether or not to imitate Guinness's actions, depending on whether or not the imitation would benefit the dog.

Research with Rico involved his ability to understand a vast array of words. Along with this came the ability to understand the names of over two hundred toys. The most interesting research with Rico involved putting him in one room and shutting the door. In another room, a researcher would place twenty toys that Rico was familiar with and one toy that Rico was not familiar with. The researchers could then open the door and either tell Rico to go get one of the toys that he knew, or the one toy that he did not. If told to get the new toy, it would be referred to by a name that Rico had never heard. Rico would pick the correct toy everytime, whether or not they told him to get the familiar or unfamiliar toy. The conclusion is that if Rico was told to get the toy that he had not heard of, he was able to rationalize that the only toy in the room that he did not know was the one that they were telling him to get.

Rico can also identify new words very rapidly. According to Juliana Kaminski, "During speech acquisition, children form quick and rough hypotheses about the meaning of a new word after only a single exposure—a process dubbed "fast mapping". Here we provide evidence that a border collie, Rico, is able to fast map. "

The research is indicating that the more often a young puppy is challenged with new situations, the more that puppy will develop in a cognitive manner.